Sex Education Policy and the Regulation of Young People's Sexual Practice

ABSTRACT

Sex education in 1990s England is surrounded by controversy. Some of this controversy rests on a series of tensions that have been articulated into and by state legislation on sex education in schools. The main purpose of this paper is to consider how, through these articulations, sex education policy frameworks form a range of ways in which young peoples’ sexual practice is regulated. By looking at the New Right's political manoeuvring on policy formation, the consequent gendered/sexual, age and class implications for young people will be drawn out. This paper argues that in order to develop a comprehensive analysis of sex education, the multiple forms of regulation in sex education policies need to be considered.